November 11, 2009

Veteran's Day and Always ~ To Our Heroes

The poem in Flanders Field........ There is a very interesting story that goes along with this poem.

Poppies are a strange flower. The ground can be ripe with other flowers all around and the poppy seeds will lie there dormant for years unless the ground is disturbed then they will sprout.

This takes place in Belgium, Flanders is a good portion of Belgium and in 1915 a huge battle was taking place. Known as the Ypres (EE-Pres) Salient. It lasted for about a month. When done, The Allies began digging the graves, thus disturbing the ground and when the internment was finished. Poppies sprouted everywhere, more than had ever been seen before, Thousands and thousands of Blood red Poppies.

Major John McCrae of the 4th Candian Division was inspired to write his poem. He wrote it but soon discovered, for some reason unknown, he didn't like it and threw it away. A Canadian Sergent Major, who saw him writing and after McCrae had finished, read it and remarked how perfectly the poem described what had happened and what the place looked like now. Saw McCrae throw it away, picked it up and sent it to the Spectator in London for publication, the Spectator rejected it out of hand and sent it back, but somehow another paper got hold of it up and published it. In the process they misspelled McCrae's name McCree and promoted him to Leutenant Colonel. And it was published.

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Wild Thing's comment.........

We will never forget who kept us safe in the past and who is keeping us safe today.

To protect the Nation they love, our veterans stepped forward when America needed them most. In conflicts around the world, their sacrifice and resolve helped destroy the enemies of freedom and saved millions from oppression. In answering history's call with honor, decency, and resolve, our veterans have shown the power of liberty and earned the respect and admiration of a grateful Nation.

All of America's veterans have placed our Nation's security before their own lives, creating a debt that we can never fully repay. Our veterans represent the best of America, and they deserve the best America can give them.

As we recall the service of our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen, we are reminded that the defense of freedom comes with great loss and sacrifice. This Veterans Day, we give thanks to those who have served freedom's cause; we salute the members of our Armed Forces who are confronting our adversaries abroad; and we honor the men and women who left America's shores but did not live to be thanked as veterans. They will always be remembered by our country.

To the corpsmen, the doctors and nurses so very brave to do what they do.

To the pilots and crews, the crew chief, mechanics and base engineers. the missileers, submariners , the reservists, the National Guard , the paratroopers, the cavalry, the Special Forces, the SEALS, the UDT, the EOD, the Delta Force, the Air Commandos, the Marine Recon, the Rangers , the cooks and truck drivers and the fuelers and the boiler tenders and the boatswain mates, quartermasters, the gunner's mates and the stewards and the laundrymen, the clerk-typists , DI's, the guards, the MPs, the Shore Patrol ............so many all a part of making our military the best.

If I left anyone out I am so sorry. We owe our Veterans so much, we owe them everything. And damn to hell anyone that does not appreciate our Military, our Veterans, and our troops today.

God bless them all and may they always know the pride we have for each one of them.

Thank you Veterans one and all!!

For those who have fallen :

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn,
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."
~Binyon

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....Thank you Mark for sending this about the poem Flanders Field to me.

On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a Shoppers Drug Mart store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the store's PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.

Terry was impressed with the store's leadership role in adopting the Legion's "two minutes of silence" initiative. He felt that the store's contribution of educating the public to the importance of remembering was commendable.

When eleven o'clock arrived on that day, an announcement was again made asking for the "two minutes of silence" to commence. All customers, with the exception of a man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.

Terry's anger towards the father for trying to engage the store's clerk in conversation and for setting a bad example for his child was later channeled into a beautiful piece of work called, "A Pittance of Time". Terry later recorded "A Pittance of Time".

...... Thank you Richard for sending this to me.

Posted by Wild Thing at November 11, 2009 06:55 AM

Comments

To our best, our brightest, our most wonderful generations-a salute to you all. You have made this world a better, brighter place to live in. You have given your all without asking for anything in return. You deserve so much and we give so little, but our utmost Thanks of gratitude for all you do. May the good Lord pour out his tremendous blessings on you and your families. We love each and every one of you. You are simply the best!!!!!

Thanks Chrissie for the nice Veterans Day salute. I have no regrets for my service because I have no regrets being an American. The people I met in the military and the veterans I have met since cross all age and class barriers and are friends.

Thanks also Chrissie for your support, during Vietnam and since. You sure have a lot of boyfriends, brothers and buddies. Loyal patriotic Americans like you make it all worth while.

Thanks also to Angry Old Salt for his service and for sharing Wild Thing with the rest of us. We would like to hear from Nick once in a while.

Posted by: TomR at November 11, 2009 12:04 PM

What Is A Vet?

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg.

- or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.
Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.
You can't tell a vet just by looking.

What is a vet?

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating
two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

She or he is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another or didn't come back AT ALL.

He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never saw combat but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket-palsied now and aggravatingly slow who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.

Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU."

I no longer remember who the author was for this but it just about says it all. Veterans are all around us and all we need to do is to remember to say thank you!

Posted by: Richard at November 11, 2009 12:17 PM

The depth of my THANKS to our veterans, past, present, and future, is immeasurable. We stand free today solely at their behest. 'Our Veterans ARE Our Nobility' - and as such should be treated like kings and queens. We are nonchalant with the freedoms that others would, have, and will, die for. This quote says it all (although the root is attributed to Zapata) , from a Vietnam Veteran's photo showing him, his buddy, and a board with their unit's KIAs, and this saying above them. "In Memory Of Those Who Believed It Was Better To Die On Their Feet Than To Live On Their Knees"

Posted by: pontiff alex at November 11, 2009 12:35 PM

Wild Thing:
I have been thanking my fellow veterans and service members today, (and every day), but this ones for you girl! I knew before opening your site that you would have a good post up, and you sure do.
Thanks for your support, and thank all who support our military! Y'all are our reason for doing the right thing.
Frankie Cee Proud US Veteran Extremist
"Never Forget Ft. Hood Texas 11/5/09!"

Great tribute and a lovely poem. The story behind the poem was unique and worth knowing. There are so many stories to be told on this day of the men and women who fought to maintain our freedoms and way of life.